Initial Pill Refining

Initial Pill Refining

The Pill Refining Furnace's explosion was not very powerful; it merely blasted Xu Fan's face black with soot.

Xu Fan pondered the cause for a long time before finally realizing that when he executed the Pill Shaping Technique at the end, his speed and the pill-condensing speed had been a little too fast, causing the furnace to explode.

Just as he was thinking about how to improve it, Xu Fan suddenly lunged toward the Pill Refining Furnace.

"My Pill Refining Furnace, you mustn't let anything happen to you."

He carefully inspected the furnace from top to bottom and finally discovered a tiny crack near the fire slot.

Only then did Xu Fan remember what the disciple had told him when he bought the Pill Refining Furnace.

"Pill Refining Furnaces of this grade can generally withstand at most ten furnace explosions. I hope Senior Brother will treasure it."

That disciple had even given him a meaningful look at the end.

Now Xu Fan understood what that look meant.

"Sure enough, pill refining has nothing to do with poverty."

For someone with mediocre aptitude, who knew how many furnaces they would have to blow up.

There was a saying in the pill refining world: twenty furnaces to produce pills, fifty furnaces to master pills, a hundred furnaces to become a master, a thousand furnaces to become a grandmaster.

This did not merely tell the world how arduous pill refining was; it also told the world that without Spirit Stones, you could not even afford a furnace.

"Could it be that I have no talent for pill refining?" Xu Fan said painfully as he stared at the crack.

Xu Fan tidied up, then started another batch. What he was refining now was the Cultivation World's most basic Fasting Pill.

Excellent Fasting Pills could even help Cultivators advance their Cultivation Base.

Half an hour later.

Boom!

Xu Fan completed the second furnace explosion of his life.

"Damn it, I refuse to believe my third attempt will still blow up the furnace."

Xu Fan's eyes were slightly red. He quickly cleaned the Pill Refining Chamber and began his third attempt at pill refining.

Another half hour passed.

Boom!

The furnace exploded for the third time.

This time, Xu Fan calmed down instead.

After removing the defensive spell around himself, Xu Fan began to think calmly.

An hour later, Xu Fan first carefully examined the Herb Essence he had prepared beforehand, sensing the medicinal potency contained within the Spiritual Herbs and the strength of their spiritual energy.

Half an hour later, Xu Fan put down the Spiritual Herbs in his hand, placed his hand on the pill refining Magic Artifact, and released his senses to carefully inspect every detail of the Pill Refining Furnace.

"Just now, my state of mind did fluctuate too much. All I thought about was refining a top-grade Fasting Pill in one go."

Xu Fan let out a long breath. No matter what one did, an unstable state of mind was a grave taboo.

Closing his eyes, he went over every detail of pill refining in his mind once more.

Heating the furnace, igniting the Living Spirit Fire, adding the Herb Essence, shaping the pill, Refining Recombination.

All the way until collecting the pills, Xu Fan maintained an intensely focused state.

"Pills formed!"

When the pills formed at last, Xu Fan took out the Jade Bottle he had prepared long ago.

The Pill Refining Furnace's lid opened on its own, and Xu Fan used the Medicine Attraction Art to draw ten Fasting Pills the size of Glass Orbs into the Jade Bottle.

Only after the pill refining was complete did Xu Fan reveal a smile.

"Not bad. My first successful pill refinement gave me a perfect haul. A good omen."

Xu Fan picked up the Jade Bottle and poured out a Fasting Pill.

"Spiritual Light on its surface, rich Pill Fragrance—this is a Mid-Grade Fasting Pill."

"If I sold it, this Mid-Grade Fasting Pill could fetch two Spirit Stones."

"Not counting the wear on the furnace, the Spiritual Fire used four Spirit Stones, while four portions of Spiritual Herbs for refining Fasting Pills were worth ten Spirit Stones."

"So after all that effort, I only earned six Spirit Stones."

As he spoke, Xu Fan began to frown slightly, feeling that it fell far short of the enormous profits he had imagined.

He had forgotten that just a month ago, he had still been a humble Outer Sect Disciple earning seven hundred Spirit Stones a year.

"But if I succeed in one furnace, the expenditure is one Spirit Stone, the Spiritual Herbs cost five Spirit Stones, and that means I can earn five Spirit Stones from one batch."

"Nearly a six-hundred-percent profit. This business has real potential." Xu Fan said with a smile, stroking his chin again.

"Alright, while I still have the feeling, I'll make a few more batches."

At the same time, the other nine disciples in Xu Fan's class were experiencing the same scene, all clutching fragments of their Pill Refining Furnaces, on the verge of tears yet unable to cry.

The next day, Xu Fan appeared in the classroom full of energy.

Sha Yan was already waiting in the classroom with a Middle-aged Cultivator.

This Middle-aged Cultivator was Xu Fan's main instructor, a Pill Refiner at the Foundation Establishment Peak named Sha Jingtian. He was also Sha Yan's father.

Once all the disciples in the class had arrived, the Middle-aged Cultivator on the platform slowly began to speak. "Did any of you succeed in refining Fasting Pills yesterday?"

Following his principle of keeping a low profile, Xu Fan said nothing. Looking around, he found that every disciple wore a miserable expression.

At that moment, Sha Jingtian laughed, as though he had recalled his own days of first learning the Pill Refining Art.

"That feeling of a furnace explosion wasn't pleasant, was it? If nothing unexpected happened, I imagine the disciples who were too eager for success yesterday have already blown their furnaces to scrap."

"Teacher, how did you know?"

"Haha, Teacher, you guessed wrong. I blew up two Pill Refining Furnaces."

"Yesterday's pill refining nearly cost me my life."

Xu Fan looked at the complaining disciples and muttered inwardly, Is pill refining really that difficult?

Only after everyone had voiced their opinions did Sha Jingtian continue. "Do not doubt yourselves. Blowing up furnaces at your stage is perfectly normal."

"I'm sure you have all heard this saying: twenty furnaces to produce pills, fifty furnaces to master pills, a hundred furnaces to become a master, a thousand furnaces to become a grandmaster."

"Let me tell you, those are standards for geniuses. For you to become even the most basic Pill Refiners, it is perfectly normal to blow up more than a hundred Pill Refining Furnaces."

"While we are at it, let me add that the standard for a Basic Pill Refiner is being able to refine ten unranked elixirs and one first-rank elixir."

"Only then are you qualified to become a Basic Pill Refiner."

"If you have resources to support you, you can learn slowly."

"If you do not, then let me give you a piece of advice: if you still cannot master three Pill Recipes before blowing up ten Pill Refining Furnaces, give up as soon as possible."

"Without resources, the road of pill refining is far too difficult."

As he spoke, he glanced at the three people below, Xu Fan among them. These three had neither Clan support nor abundant resources.

However, when Sha Jingtian looked at Xu Fan, a trace of something unusual flashed through his eyes—so faint that it was impossible to notice.

"Alright, enough idle chatter. Now tell me why you failed when refining Fasting Pills."

The entire morning passed in correcting mistakes. After Sha Jingtian's lesson ended and all the disciples had left, he looked at his daughter.

"Do you know anything about that disciple named Xu Fan?" Sha Jingtian asked.

"He is just an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple with a little talent in spiritual aptitude."

"He is a very ordinary, very low-profile disciple," Sha Yan said.

"Pay more attention to him in the future. This disciple may not be simple," Sha Jingtian said. As a Pill Refiner, he was especially sensitive to the scent of elixirs. The moment Xu Fan entered the classroom, he had smelled a faint yet relatively pure Fasting Pill fragrance on him.

"Why?"

"He may be a genius. If so, you will have another Junior Brother."

End of this chapter